Maybe don’t cancel that Amazon Prime subscription just yet, because it turns out that drones are no longer reserved for military and police outfits: E-retailer Amazon.com is testing delivering packages using drones, CEO Jeff Bezos said on the CBS TV news show 60 Minutes Sunday. Though realistic projections put implementation of the technology at least three to four years away, the Amazon drones are already operational. “We’ll be ready to enter commercial operations as soon as the necessary regulations are in place,” Amazon said Sunday.

The idea is that the aircraft, known as octocopters, will pick up packages in small yellow buckets at Amazon’s fulfillment centers and fly through the air to deliver items to customers after they hit the buy button online at Amazon.com. Currently referred to as “Prime Air,” The goal of the new service will be to get packages to customers’ doorsteps in as little as 30 minutes after clicking the “buy” button. Such a turnaround is unheard of in the world of e-commerce and would further add to the convenience of online shopping.

Putting Prime Air into commercial use will take “some number of years” as Amazon develops the technology further and waits for the Federal Aviation Administration to come up with rules and regulations. The FAA currently limits the use of drones in the U.S. to public entities such as police forces and hobbyists, meaning the devices cannot be used in return for payment. However, that hasn’t stopped the Amazon drones from undergoing development and testing. “Safety will be our top priority, and our vehicles will be built with multiple redundancies and designed to commercial aviation standards,” the company said Sunday.

Amazon will be able to petition the FAA to show them how its drone delivery technology works and the company can also apply to test its drones to make sure they are air worthy, said Ryan Calo, an expert on robotics, privacy and the law at the University of Washington.

Famously used to carry out attacks on military targets in hostile areas like Iraq and Afghanistan, drone costs have dropped in recent years such that they’ve become an affordable option for private users, like companies and entrepreneurs. Replace the missiles with votive candles and stuffed animals, and the advantages of drone flight become obvious. Small, unmanned drones use comparatively little of the fuel, personnel, and carbon footprint required by larger, more conventional aircraft. Currently a luxury option, air freight could become the standard shipping option of regulations relax and costs continue to fall.

Jeff Bezos rose to prominence as an e-commerce pioneer by founding Amazon.com in the 1990s, but exploring futuristic Amazon drones is hardly out of the ordinary for the eccentric CEO. Bezos’ personal projects include private spaceflight and a 10,000-year clock built inside a mountain. Recently, Bezos entered the news world with his $250 million purchase of The Washington Post, ending 80 years of local control of the newspaper by the Graham family. He hopes that seeing the Amazon drones take flight will one day be as commonplace as seeing mail or shipping trucks on the road today.

Bezos told 60 Minutes that the service could be up and running in as few as four years — although he noted that he is an optimist when it comes to such things.